If I spend $60 on a character, I will get at least 100+ playable hours from that character before the game ever shuts down. Since this is a hobby, and a fairly inexpensive one as compared to model planes, or Comic book collecting, I take no issue with a $60 price tag. I would spend $20 on a movie with popcorn that lasts 2 hours. Do that 3 times, and what do I have? Saw 3 movies I will now watch sometime a year from now, and the snacks have been consumed. This at least provides continuous enjoyment for hundreds of hours yet to come over the course of many years. Value is subjective. I find value in this service.

Different form of entertainment with a different price point. I regularly go to platinum seated hockey games at $600~/pair of tickets. Should i also be willing to pay $600 for a video game I will play for 3 hours? No, different form of entertainment, different value...can't really compare the two.

I have got bundle games for $0.50 that I have dumped dozens of hours into. No way im paying $60 for a wow character. With that said, no way im spending any money on services or items in any game with a monthly sub. It just goes against my principles.

Maybe it's just me, but for all of you who SAY that you won't use your free boost to 90, I have a sneaking suspicion that, that is a flat out lie. You're gonna want a new alt one day, and say, "Hey, I've still got a free 90 boost." And I bet you'll use it.

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Originally Posted by Superman-BladesEdge

If this were true, Blizz never... EVER... would have offered a free boost with the Xpac, nor would it have one for sale. Delusion is a terrible thing.

I'm a fan of you Superman, but I think that this post is wrong, I enjoy the leveling process a lot. Just because a majority of people don't SOME people do. I enjoy the feeling of leveling as progression (mostly because I don't raid or pvp anymore.)

I'm a fan of you Superman, but I think that this post is wrong, I enjoy the leveling process a lot. Just because a majority of people don't SOME people do. I enjoy the feeling of leveling as progression (mostly because I don't raid or pvp anymore.)

There are plenty of us who enjoy the leveling content more than the level capped treadmill thing. It would be nice if people like me could sell that level boost in the auction house, but since they are putting those level boosts in their cash shop, that would have it's own problems.

I'm a fan of you Superman, but I think that this post is wrong, I enjoy the leveling process a lot. Just because a majority of people don't SOME people do. I enjoy the feeling of leveling as progression (mostly because I don't raid or pvp anymore.)

Here is another solution to the problem that they should have considered... double ding boost. Each time you ding, you jump two levels rather than just one. So 1-90 would require 45 levels. This would work in conjunction with all of your heirlooms etc etc.. so if you ding in a dungeon at level 44, you become level 46. Ding again.. level 48.

Why this system? It would have still given players the chance to learn their class from the start but taken out a lot of the chore of levelling. It would effectively cut the time to level 1-90 in half.

This could have been an account wide feature.

I just can't bring myself to buy a new 90.. not for a class i've never played before. It would be unfair on others in dungeons if I turned up with my fresh 90 paladin that i've never played before.. never having tanked before.. and expect things to go smoothly.

The whole idea of having to skip content is broken in itself. WoW is too bloated in terms of levels for existing, and new players to really have a cohensive and fun experience. A instant boost to 90 is a band aid.

Blizzard has cultivated that attitude, I suspect it's their preferred player-mindset going forward. Huge chunks of the gaming community have fallen prey to it - just look at the recent 're-release' of Dungeon Keeper. Corporate gaming isn't about what grognards like myself consider good game design, it's about building the bestest shiniest Skinner-box possible so that you can extract the maximum possible profit from the suckers <cough> 'gamers'.

"In today’s America, conservatives who actually want to conserve are as rare as liberals who actually want to liberate. The once-significant language of an earlier era has had the meaning sucked right out of it, the better to serve as camouflage for a kleptocratic feeding frenzy in which both establishment parties participate with equal abandon" (Taking a break from the criminal, incompetentliars at the NSA, to bring you the above political observation, from The Archdruid Report.)

What does it say about your game when you have players who are willing to pay money to skip content?

It says that you have players who have already seen the old content two, or four, or ten times, and simply do not want to do it yet again to reach the current content. Not sure how you still havent grasped this concept yet. Also, all of the content they "skipped" is still there, waiting for them to explore it at their leisure, so it isnt exactly as if they have lost anything.

I mean, I LOVE the long epic novel serieses, like Wheel of Time, or Game of Thrones. But can you imagine how annoyed you would be if you were forced to re-read every single previous novel over again every time a new one came out. After about your fourth of fifth time through the first two or three, it becomes a chore, rather then an entertaining way to kill time. WoW is no different, except that they have to put something in there to appease the mass of whiners who somehow believe that all the time and effort they have put into leveling their pixel-person has "true meaning", so they slapped a 60 dollar pricetag on fast-tracking your way to 90 and called it a day.

It is a GREAT way to start a new expansion fresh and to adventure in it without having to bother of wading through 3-8 year old content that is no longer relevant with the (re) launch.

It is like saying to someone who buys the latest Elder Scrolls that he must first finish Morrowind, Oblivion and ALL of its content offers before starting to play Skyrim. It is nice you CAN do it, but it is better to offer the option to see WOW in its latest expansion together with everyone else buying it, whether you are new or old or returning.

All the rest is simply put: meaningless hate. Enjoy the possibility if you want it. If not don't play.

It says that you have players who have already seen the old content two, or four, or ten times, and simply do not want to do it yet again to reach the current content. Not sure how you still havent grasped this concept yet. Also, all of the content they "skipped" is still there, waiting for them to explore it at their leisure, so it isnt exactly as if they have lost anything.

So technically you want the rest of your characters "grandfathered in" because youve already been through the mill once, right? So youll basically just level one toon to 90 and the rest of the toon youll make should be 90 already, because, from grasping your concept, God forbid, you dont have to go through the grind again, right? <_< Why the hell are you even playing this game in the first place? To gloat at others?

Having to purchase a level 90 is a luxury. And not everyone has to get that luxury. Why even invest in a game when you want what most of MMO gaming is usually spent on (leveling) make it look like a burden to you? They have invested a lot into making leveling LESS tedious as it is, and yet I hear complaining that its too much work, dont have time to play.

Most of who can afford it are even lucky Blizzard has posted this baseline price. What if they just let you guys go through the mill of having to purchase all of the games, and then pay for transfer? Blizzard is conveniently enough giving you guys a chance for a fair price.

Its like most people I see in either guild chat or trade channel that its taking too long to level. Then get out of trade, go out there and level, and stop yapping in guild chat too much and go level! <_<

When you create a character, they start at level 1 with no experience. They are, in game mechanics, effectively nothing. You can create all the level 1s that you want, and there is no actual value to doing so. This is not the case with a level 90. There is value in having a level 90 and that value has been conjured out of thin air. Are you so dense that you cannot comprehend something so simple?

Correct, and that value is deemed to be $60 by Blizzard.

Seriously though. It seems like all the people complaining about the price point for a level 90 character are just butt hurt that it's out of their price range? Does it really hurt you if someone else decides to use the service?

Originally Posted by Collected

But here is the problem. Let's say I'm this example gamer you mention that only cares for end game, and I want to roll an alt. Are you suggesting that it's reasonable for an MMO that I already pay $14.99 a month to play on top of the cost of the actual game itself to then expect me to pay $60 per new character to skip all of the redundant and dead content and enjoy the part of the game I want to play? So $Cost of Game/Expansions + $60 + $14.99 to enjoy the part of a game that you suggest is widely accepted to be where the actual game starts. Hmm. Something doesn't quite stack up there.

Time is money. You pay to play a game you enjoy. You aren't being forced to pay to get to 90. It would be different if every time you made a new character it cost you $60 and boom it's 90. You're paying to skip content. You are effectively paying to skip time spent doing something you necessarily don't want to do. I'd rather pay $60 (10 hours minimum wage after taxes?) than spend 11 hours in game leveling. Or in WoW terms; would you rather farm for herbs you need to level a profession, or do whatever you do to make gold and just buy the herbs? There is a price point in that. If you can make 1000g an hour, why would you spend that hour farming what would cost you 500g?

Yes, I would say it's a reasonable to pay for an instantly leveled 90. It may not be for you though, and I understand that. That price point may be out of your range.

Now of course the response to this is: choice. You don't *have* to pay. But by your own suggestion.. the game is dead/broken/whatever 1-90 .. so the game is sort of suggesting you do need to pay up.

It's giving you an option to save time. Last time I leveled a character without RAF, it took me roughly 3-4 played days. It's not hurting you if you don't do it. It's just suggesting that your time isn't worth that much. Some people LOVE leveling alts. Some people want it over with ASAP. Some people don't level alts because they hate the leveling process.

I'll suggest a radical alternative here. They could have boosted new alts to 90 for free with a limit of how many times you can do it. But that would be far too radical for Blizzard because guess what... they make no money from that. Instead they cook up some line about how $60 is the correct value for a 90 and hope the player base swallows it.

They did do this actually. Blizzard did this radical thing where if you purchase the expansion, you get to boost a new alt (read: limit 1) to 90 FOR FREE! I know you're suggesting they should have done more then that, but meh. To me, the price point was based off other services you can do. It's still cheaper to RAF and quickly boost multiple alts to 85 (maybe 90 with new expansion not sure).

You can tell Blizzard know deep down their charge is flawed because they're giving everyone who buys the expansion a free 90. They know if they didn't do that the $60 would be too much to pay for returning players.

Their game has a problem.. and rather than fix it with a free solution.. they're charging for the fix. Gotta hand it to them.. they're pros at milking their player base. Anyone would think WoW was free to play. I mean the prices of some items on the store sure seem to suggest it.

The fix was for new or returning accounts and being able to get directly into the new content without spending a lot of time trying to get to the new content. That is the fix. This extra service of boosting more players is just that, EXTRA. It's not so new or returning players can experience new game content, they're getting that with the free upgrade with purchase of the expansion.

Here is my view, 1-90 isn't broken, it never has been. It's just a chore. Even with heirlooms, random dungeons, it's still a bit too much of a chore with a 100 cap. So here was my idea. Sell an entire heirloom set, all pieces, all classes, with an extra +15% XP necklace .. sell all of that for $15. Call it the "All In One Alt Kit" or whatever. You buy it once.. you can use it on as many alts as you like. And bingo.. 1-90 is so incredibly easy.. you just queue for randoms and you're a 90 in no time. At least with this solution the 1-90 dungeons aren't ghost towns and healers and tanks will actually know how to perform their rolls before they turn up in 90-100 dungeons.

This doesn't necessarily solve the time it takes to level, it just lessens it. Also, the idea that tanks and healers will understand game mechanics because they've rushed through random dungeon content that barely requires tanking or healing is laughable. You don't really need to know how to tank until MAYBE Cata dungeons in the leveling process, but that requires a healer that is paying attention. Same for healing, if you have a good tank, healing is mind numbing. It will be the same thing for a boosted 90. Either the player behind the character reads up on his or her class and learns how to play, or doesn't. They will get that class tutorial when its boosted (can't remember how that tutorial is limited, but vet players shouldn't experience it). It won't solve players not knowing their classes when they get to current content. That will always be an issue in this game, regardless of how the process to get to current content is.

To sum up... if 1-90 is "broken" and the game "begins at 90" .. how is it ever correct and acceptable that they're charging $60 for the fix to this problem?

To sum up... the game is only broken for new or returning players who want to experience current game content. That is fixed with the free 90 with purchase. The $60 purchase for a boosted 90 isn't a bandaid or fix for any problem, or than to save time getting to the end point of a character.

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Originally Posted by Zoneseek

Different form of entertainment with a different price point. I regularly go to platinum seated hockey games at $600~/pair of tickets. Should i also be willing to pay $600 for a video game I will play for 3 hours? No, different form of entertainment, different value...can't really compare the two.

I have got bundle games for $0.50 that I have dumped dozens of hours into. No way im paying $60 for a wow character. With that said, no way im spending any money on services or items in any game with a monthly sub. It just goes against my principles.

I understand your principles and I'm going to preface this with the fact that I'll most likely never pay for a boosted 90. I may not even use the free one unless my friends and I decide to jump ship and transfer somewhere.

That being said, if you play this game and understand price points, you'll see that there is a value associated with the time spent leveling a character to 90. Would you rather spend those 3 days leveling to 90, or those 3 days gearing up at 90? What if those 3 days of played time took you a month to actually log? Maybe the game isn't for you at that point and you'd be best served with your cheap game bundles, or brand new games or game sequels at $60 that don't require you to play or purchase the previous games in the series.

What does it say about your game when you have players who are willing to pay money to skip content?

If this were unusual in high-end gaming I might agree with you. However, it's not at all unusual. Lots of games have alternate ways involving cash that allow you to tailor your experience to whatever you want. Even most other MMO's have a 'patron' or equivalent account level where you pay monthly but that doesn't necessarily give you access to everything in the store. The answer as always is to mind your own business and not worry so much about what others are doing.

So technically you want the rest of your characters "grandfathered in" because youve already been through the mill once, right? So youll basically just level one toon to 90 and the rest of the toon youll make should be 90 already, because, from grasping your concept, God forbid, you dont have to go through the grind again, right? <_< Why the hell are you even playing this game in the first place? To gloat at others?

I never said that. I never even implied it. I simply pointed out that there is a large segment of the playerbase who no longer have any interest in leveling through content they have already seen multiple times yet again, and that blizzard has introduced a way to avoid that if you are willing to make use of the optional service at the price they have provided. Before that, there was no other option, you either quested / dungeoned your way to max level, or you said screw it, and went and played something else.

Buying a lvl 90 boost is like paying for a hooker you could do the normal way and get a girlfriend and after a while you'll get some horizontal time but for ppl who have tried that way numerous times and just sick of the time commitment and all. They can go to a brothel and pay extra and jump straight to the action without the previous boring bits

If this were unusual in high-end gaming I might agree with you. However, it's not at all unusual. Lots of games have alternate ways involving cash that allow you to tailor your experience to whatever you want. Even most other MMO's have a 'patron' or equivalent account level where you pay monthly but that doesn't necessarily give you access to everything in the store..

Just because other MMOs or games are doing it is a piss poor reason. Paying to unlock weapons or equipment in Battlefield 4 is a prime example of a company that has abandoned the integrity of their game.

The answer as always is to mind your own business and not worry so much about what others are doing.

No, that's actually not an answer at all. WoW is not a singleplayer game, it's a MMO, as in MASSIVELY MULTI-PLAYER Online game. It's because of cancerous players like yourself that Blizzard is trending down this road.